Download or read book The Christmas Truce written by Terri Blom Crocker and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In late December 1914, German and British soldiers on the western front initiated a series of impromptu, unofficial ceasefires. Enlisted men across No Man's Land abandoned their trenches and crossed enemy lines to sing carols, share food and cigarettes, and even play a little soccer. Collectively known as the Christmas Truce, these fleeting moments of peace occupy a mythical place in remembrances of World War I. Yet new accounts suggest that the heartwarming tale ingrained in the popular imagination bears little resemblance to the truth. In this detailed study, Terri Blom Crocker provides the first comprehensive analysis of both scholarly and popular portrayals of the Christmas Truce from 1914 to present. From books by influential historians to the Oscar-nominated French film Joyeux Noel (2006), this new examination shows how a variety of works have both explored and enshrined this outbreak of peace amid overwhelming violence. The vast majority of these accounts depict the soldiers as acting in defiance of their superiors. Crocker, however, analyzes official accounts as well as private letters that reveal widespread support among officers for the détentes. Furthermore, she finds that truce participants describe the temporary ceasefires not as rebellions by disaffected troops but as acts of humanity and survival by professional soldiers deeply committed to their respective causes. The Christmas Truce studies these ceasefires within the wider war, demonstrating how generations of scholars have promoted interpretations that ignored the nuanced perspectives of the many soldiers who fought. Crocker's groundbreaking, meticulously researched work challenges conventional analyses and sheds new light on the history and popular mythology of the War to End All Wars.
Download or read book Shooting at the Stars written by John Hendrix and published by ABRAMS. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shooting at the Stars is the moving story of a young British soldier on the front lines during World War I who experiences an unforgettable Christmas Eve. In a letter to his mother, he describes how, despite fierce fighting earlier from both sides, Allied and German soldiers ceased firing that evening and came together on the battlefield to celebrate the holiday. They sang carols, exchanged gifts, and even lit Christmas trees. But as the holiday came to a close, they returned to their separate trenches to await orders for the war to begin again. Award-wining creator John Hendrix wonderfully brings the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 to life with his signature style, interweaving detailed illustrations and hand-lettered text. His telling of the story celebrates the humanity that can persist during even the darkest periods of our history.
Download or read book Christmas Truce written by Malcolm Brown and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 1999 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During Christmas 1914, in a war already famous for its horror and brutality, enemy shook hands with enemy in No Man`s Land, exchanged souvenirs, even played football. The truce between the trenches extended over at least two-thirds of the British line and there were similar cease-fires in the French and Belgian sectors. In some areas the peaceable mood lingered well into 1915. Originally published in 1984, this book is one of the finest accounts ever assembled on one of the most overlooked stories of World War I.
Download or read book Silent Night written by Stanley Weintraub and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-11-11 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an acclaimed military historian comes the astonishing story of World War I's 1914 Christmas truce—a spontaneous celebration when enemies became friends. It was one of history's most powerful—yet forgotten—Christmas stories. It took place in the improbable setting of the mud, cold rain, and senseless killing of the trenches of World War I. It happened in spite of orders to the contrary by superiors. It happened in spite of language barriers. And it still stands as the only time in history that peace spontaneously arose from the lower ranks in a major conflict, bubbling up to the officers and temporarily turning sworn enemies into friends. Silent Night, by renowned military historian Stanley Weintraub, magically restores the 1914 Christmas Truce to history. It had been lost in the tide of horror that filled the battlefields of Europe for months and years afterward. Yet, in December 1914, the Great War was still young, and the men who suddenly threw down their arms and came together across the front lines—to sing carols, exchange gifts and letters, eat and drink and even play friendly games of soccer—naively hoped that the war would be short-lived, and that they were fraternizing with future friends. It began when German soldiers lit candles on small Christmas trees, and British, French, Belgian, and German troops serenaded each other on Christmas Eve. Soon they were gathering and burying the dead, in an age-old custom of truces. But as the power of Christmas grew among them, they broke bread, exchanged addresses and letters, and expressed deep admiration for one another. When angry superiors ordered them to recommence the shooting, many men aimed harmlessly high overhead. Sometimes the greatest beauty emerges from deep tragedy. Surely the forgotten Christmas Truce was one of history's most beautiful moments, made all the more beautiful in light of the carnage that followed it. Stanley Weintraub's moving re-creation demonstrates that peace can be more fragile than war, but also that ordinary men can bond with one another despite all efforts of politicians and generals to the contrary.
Download or read book The Truce written by Chris Baker and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating new study of the events leading up to and during one of the most poignant events of the First World War, the Christmas Truce 1914.
Download or read book The True Story of the Christmas Truce written by Anthony Richards and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2021-12-03 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘One of them shouted “A Merry Christmas English. We’re not shooting tonight.” . . . [then] they stuck up a light. Not to be outdone, so did we. Then up went another. So, we shoved up another. Soon the lines looked like an illuminated fete.’ Rifleman Leslie Walkington On Christmas Eve 1914, a group of German soldiers laid down their arms, lit lanterns and started to sing Christmas carols. The British troops in nearby trenches responded by singing songs of their own. The next day, men from both sides met in No Man’s Land. They shook hands, took photos and exchanged food and souvenirs. Some even played improvised football games, kicking around empty bully-beef cans and using helmets for goalposts. Both sides also saw the lull in fighting as a chance to bury the bodies of their comrades. In some parts of the front, the truce lasted a few hours. In others, it continued to the New Year. But everywhere, sooner or later, the fighting resumed. Today, the Christmas Truce is seen as a poignant symbol of hope in a war that many people regard as unnecessary and futile. But what was the real story of those remarkable few days? In this fascinating new book, historian Anthony Richards has brought together hundreds of first-hand reminiscences from those who were there – including previously unpublished German accounts – to cast fresh light on this extraordinary episode.
Download or read book Truce written by Jim Murphy and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two-time Newbery Honor Book author Jim Murphy writes a stunning nonfiction masterpiece about a Christmas miracle on the Western Front during World War I. On July 29th 1914, the world's peace was shattered as the artillery of the Austria-Hungary Empire began shelling the troops of the country to its south. What followed was like a row of falling dominoes as one European country after another rushed into war. Soon most of Europe was fighting in this calamitous war that could have been avoided. This was, of course, the First World War. But who could have guessed that on December 25 the troops would openly defy their commanding officers by stopping the fighting and having a spontaneous celebration of Christmas with their "enemies"? In what can only be described as a Christmas Miracle, this beautiful and heartrending narrative will remind everyone how brotherhood and love for one another reaches far beyond war and politics.
Download or read book Christmas Truce by the Men Who Took Part written by Mike Hill and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2021-01-28 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: • Includes revealing first-person accounts of how the truce unfolded and the amazing interaction between enemies • An exhaustive work of comprehensive research and study in various files and paperwork • Beautifully illustrated with many rare and unpublished photographs • A must-have for military historians, enthusiasts, academics, students, scholars and those interested in the First World War The Christmas Truce of 1914 remains a moment of enduring fascination more than a century after the day the First World War guns fell silent. Now for the first time, hundreds of first-person accounts of this most extraordinary period of history have been gathered together telling the story in their own words of the soldiers who met in peace in No Man’s Land. The stories of men from English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh regiments who played and joked, sang and danced, swapped gifts and shared food and drink with the enemy before returning to war on the Western Front. Christmas Truce by the Men Who Took Part: Letters from the 1914 Ceasefire on the Western Front is the largest collection ever drawn together of letters sent home by the officers and soldiers who laid down their guns and shook hands with their foes. The eye-opening accounts of the unofficial armistice between German and British forces capture the trepidation and exhilaration, the curiosity, anger, joy and despair of that first Christmas on the unforgiving battlegrounds of the Great War.
Download or read book Christmas 1914 written by John Hudson and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2014-10-06 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By December 1914, it had become clear to even the most optimistic observer that the war would not be over by Christmas. That month brought the first enemy inflicted deaths on the home front, when German warships bombarded three north-east coastal towns; meanwhile, the recently invented aeroplane was being put to fearsome use in raids over the south east. In Europe, Mons, the Marne and Ypres had given a taste of the devastating power of modern warfare – a reality to which troops in the trenches on both sides tried to turn a blind eye in the famous Christmas truce. This book uses contemporary newspapers and magazines, diaries and other records to present a comprehensive image of this extraordinary Christmas, both at home and abroad.
Download or read book City of Lace written by Douglas A Schrock and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The war to end all wars ... The battle-hardened troops of four great empires ... The blood on the snow ... The mud and murky water in the trenches ... The barbed wire and mangled corpses of No Man's Land ... And the Christmas Truce that the world would never forget. This is a story of Christmas 1914 ... at Ypres, Belgium, the ancient city of lace.
Download or read book The Christmas Match written by Pehr Thermaenius and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After four months of intense fighting, the war in Flanders between German and British soldiers fell silent on Christmas Eve 1914. The soldiers started singing instead of shooting. On Christmas Day they came out of their trenches and met in No Man's Land. Some chased rabbits. Some played football. This true story is about two footballers and soldiers, one Saxon and one Scot, who were in units that played a match in a field between the French villages Houplines and Frelinghien. Scotsman Jimmy Coyle had played professional football before the war. Saxon Albert Schmidt played in the third team for his local club. On Christmas afternoon they each got the chance to defeat their opponents without weapons. Pehr Thermaenius has tracked both Jimmy's and Albert’s stories through military archives; from mobilization in August to the hard frozen mud in that field in Flanders that became a football field on Christmas Day. The story of the football match is a light in the darkness as the world remembers the tragic waste of a hundred years ago.
Download or read book Christmas Truce of 1914 written by Thomas Streissguth and published by Essential Library. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Title Page -- Credits -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Peace Breaks Out -- Chapter 2: The Great War -- Chapter 3: Appeals for Peace -- Chapter 4: The Christmas Season -- Chapter 5: Christmas Meals and Soccer Matches -- Chapter 6: Carrying on the Fight -- Chapter 7: A New Year of War -- Chapter 8: Peace and Aftermath -- Timeline -- Essential Facts -- Glossary -- Additional Resources -- Source Notes -- Index -- About the Author
Download or read book The Christmas Truce of 1914 written by Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-01-06 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the truce written by soldiers *Includes a bibliography for further reading "It was absolutely astounding, and if I had seen it on a cinematograph film I should have sworn that it was faked!" - Captain Sir Edward Hulse of the Scots Guards on the Christmas Truce (Groom, 2002, 85). On Christmas Day 1914, amid the bloodily stalemated trenches of Flanders just five months into World War I, a memorable event dubbed the Christmas Truce occurred. In place of the rattle of gunfire and the crash of bursting artillery shells, familiar German and English Christmas carols floated through the frosty air. In a number of sectors, officers and men on both sides emerged from their trenches to mingle, exchange Yuletide greetings, give one another small gifts and mementos, and discuss the fighting as language allowed. The Truce also provided practical advantages in addition to the emotional and perhaps spiritual relief of a pleasant, peaceful day after months of brutal combat. Many men took advantage of the temporary ceasefire to improve their trenches and dugouts, while others brought up firewood and supplies in large quantities, since the "armistice" enabled carrying these items openly rather than crawling through the mud under fire with only small amounts of necessities. Officers organized burial details to inter the numerous corpses in No-Man's Land, which typically returned identity papers and personal effects of enemy soldiers to their comrades but tended to retain weapons. These burials served both a humanitarian purpose and also freed the living soldiers from the stench and sight of putrid corpses, some of which had lain in the 60 yards between the lines for two months. The Christmas Truce lasted patchily for several days. The reaction of the soldiers to this extraordinary period of ceasefire and fraternization varied. Some, such as then-corporal Adolf Hitler, who distinguished himself shortly before the Truce by dragging a wounded officer to safety under heavy fire, expressed disgust at mingling with the enemy, even in the Yuletide tradition. Others entered into the occasion's spirit wholeheartedly, even discussing a permanent peace. Another sizable group welcomed the occasion for a day or two's respite and holiday enjoyment, yet remained keen, refusing to relax their martial impulses or their fierce determination to win. One British soldier, Bruce Bairnsfather, encapsulated this viewpoint forcefully in his wartime memoirs: "There was not an atom of hate on either side that day; and yet, on our side, not for a moment was the will to war and the will to beat them relaxed. It was just like the interval between the rounds in a friendly boxing match." (Bairnsfather, 1916, 92). Either intellectually or instinctively, some of the German soldiers realized their side lost the war as soon as the first trench line snaked across the sodden earth of Flanders. Many others remained confident of victory, asked the British how long they planned to continue their futile resistance, and also viewed the Truce as a welcome, but temporary, respite from fighting. The Germans initiated the Christmas Truce and managed to extend it for several days despite repeated British messages that it ended along with the holiday. The Christmas Truce of 1914: The History of the Holiday Ceasefire during World War I looks at the famous unofficial truce that took place during the first year of the war. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Christmas Truce like never before, in no time at all.
Download or read book The Best Christmas Present in the World written by Michael Morpurgo and published by Egmont UK Limited. This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Billedbog. A forgotten letter in a secret drawer brings one night in the Great War vividly to life. Writing home from the front, a soldier has an incredible story to tell
Download or read book The Christmas Truce written by Hilary Robinson and published by . This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It's Christmas Eve 1914. A group of tired soldiers start singing Stille Nacht. Soldiers the other side of the divide on No Man's Land respond with Silent Night. The following day, soldiers on both sides put down their weapons and celebrate the spirit of Christmas with a friendly football match. In the sequel to the hugely popular 'Where The Poppies Now Grow', 'The Christmas Truce' finds soldiers Ben and Ray shaking hands in friendship with Karl and Lars, a tribute to that remarkable moment in history when, for one day, peace found a place."--Publisher's description.
Download or read book Facing Armageddon written by Hugh Cecil and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2003-04-01 with total page 974 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facing Armageddon is the first scholarly work on the 1914-18 War to explore, on a world-wide basis, the real nature of the participants experience. Sixty-four scholars from all over the globe deliver the fruits of recent research in what civilians and servicemen passed through, in the air, on the sea and on land.
Download or read book Christmas Truce written by Aaron Shepard and published by Skyhook Press. This book was released on 2024-08-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One night of peace in a world of war. "Christmas Day, 1914 . . . My dear sister Janet . . . It is 2:00 in the morning and most of our men are asleep in their dugouts -- yet I could not sleep myself before writing to you of the wonderful events of Christmas Eve. In truth, what happened seems almost like a fairy tale, and if I hadn't been through it myself, I would scarce believe it. Just imagine: While you and the family sang carols before the fire there in London, I did the same with enemy soldiers here on the battlefields of France!" The Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of the most extraordinary incidents not only of World War I but of all history. Providing inspiration for songs, books, plays, and movies, it has endured as an archetypal image of peace. Yet much about the historic event remains shrouded in myth and legend. In this fictional letter -- illustrated in authentic detail by Wendy Edelson -- award-winning author Aaron Shepard draws from firsthand accounts of soldiers at the front to portray the truce in its true nature and spirit. TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS -- A READER'S THEATER SCRIPT FOR THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE ON AARON'S WEB SITE. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Aaron Shepard's many books for young people have won honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the American Folklore Society, and the National Council for the Social Studies. Wendy Edelson has been honored with the Pacific Northwest Book Award, the Moonbeam Children's Book Award, and the Mom's Choice Award. Her other illustrated books include Aaron's "The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale." ///////////////////////////////////////////////// "Among the many entries celebrating this event's centennial, librarians and teachers should welcome this historically accurate telling for ages 9 and up." -- Kirkus Reviews (Web site), Aug. 11, 2014 "Beautifully and realistically illustrated." -- Alex Baugh, The Children's War (blog) "Short but intense, heart-warming, full of hope, love, brotherhood, and friendship." -- Veronica Marzini, LibriAmoriMiei (blog), Nov. 8, 2014 "A beautiful (and true) tale, with lovely illustrations . . . Great for a readaloud to children!" -- Beth Nolan Conners, Beth's Book-Nook Blog (blog), Nov. 12, 2014 "Delightful . . . A really beautiful rendition of those fantastic events when, in the midst of war, the spirit of Christmas overruled the fighting and peace reigned on the battlefields." -- Elaine Brent, Splashes Into Books (blog), Dec. 7, 2014 "Lovely . . . It evokes the time and place with vivid description and will certainly spark talk of why there is war . . . The artwork is stunning." -- Lynne Vanderveen Smith, children's librarian "Great to use with readers of various ages, especially in a social studies or American history curriculum." -- Karen Biggs-Tucker, co-author, "Transforming Literacy Teaching for the Era of Higher Standards" "I would recommend this for any school library . . . Includes facts about life in the trenches of World War I -- but without making it too frightening for young readers. Descriptions add realism to the scenes. Other things might surprise students and cause them to rethink their assumptions that all Germans were 'bad guys' . . . An excellent addition to a unit on WWI. It could start a class discussion or even be used as a model text for students who are writing up their own narratives based on research into the war." -- Suzanne Costner, school librarian "What a wonderful way to show children that, even though there are differences between people, there are also similarities that can tie us together, even in a war zone." -- Kim Napier, teacher
